Winter is in full force around here. Sub-zero temps several days last week. 5 inches of snow on Tuesday and another 3 or 4 inches overnight on top of some freezing rain. We are still much better off than last year at this time, but we are certainly being reminded that we are in the middle of winter. We got a bit spoiled in December. As for the musings …

-Yesterday was a great picture of the growth we have experienced. The day felt like just a so-so day as far as attendance, but we actually had 25 more than we were averaging at this time last year. We had no first time visitors and we had 10 or 12 very regular attenders who were absent.

-One of our college students, from Olivet Nazarene University, shared about his upcoming mission trip. I love that we get to be a part of sending him on this trip. I love that he is willing to go. I love that people are giving and praying for him and his team. Hoping to use this as a springboard for others to go on mission trips.

-I began teaching an 8 week elective small group during our Sunday School hour. It has been a while since I did a weekly group on Sunday mornings. I love doing it but I have to be very prepared for the day and it takes some shifting of mindsets to go from teaching a small group directly into worship and preaching. It was a great start with this new group. They are going to be fun to teach.

-We made it through worship with no issues with our technology. That is a great praise. It has been a while since we were issue free on a Sunday with our technology.

-This was the 2nd message in my series “Directions”. I am burdened, and excited, to see people really dig into this series and apply it to their lives and to the life our church. People seemed engaged during the message and in conversations following the service I know there are people looking to apply the message.

-Our small group cancelled last night due to icy roads. We still had a new person show up, so my wife and I sat and talked with her for an hour. It was a great time to get to know her much better. We now have her on our list of contacts when anything changes in the group.

-It was good to see a few people back in church who have missed recently due to illness. The junk going around is still impacting a lot of people and some were still absent yesterday.

-I am excited that our Men’s group is going to start meeting again this week after a couple of months off. It is a group that meets at a local restaurant for fellowship. I love meeting with those guys. This time around we are going to have 1 question we deal with each time we meet. I am smiling as I type this in anticipation of the discussion we are likely to experience.

My back is yelling at me from the hour of shoveling this morning and I have a couple who are due to meet with me any minute, so I need to stop musing. Looking forward to a great week of ministry. What are you looking forward to this week?

Dennis